Radcliffe Poised to Fly in 2018

Evening stables at Shalfleet–the last of a year that has transformed the life of the svelte figure whose cheerful tones bring a series of heads peering over their stable doors into the gathering dusk. Kerri Radcliffe has just returned from Christmas with her parents in Ulster, and in contrition for her absence is bringing carrots to each of the Phoenix horses in turn. The illumination of their stalls is not just a matter of turning a switch; in each case, Radcliffe's blonde hair and the whiskers of a nuzzled snout catch the light in a halo of animated affection.

It is the warmth and intimacy of this scene that should, perhaps, be kept in mind by those who have surveyed in astonishment Radcliffe's exaltation, more or less overnight, into the stratosphere of international bloodstock.

Yes, these young horses are some of the most expensive bought at auction in 2017; and yes, the woman who picked them out is able to entreat, with each carrot, some corresponding ambition for the new year–from Royal Ascot to, whisper it, Louisville on the first Saturday in May. But while nobody could be more acutely aware of the stakes, it is not just the millions she has paid out for Phoenix that make Radcliffe nearly nauseous with stress, whenever her judgement is put to the test on the racecourse; nor even the fact that those Phoenix horses stabled in this particular Newmarket yard are trained by her husband, Jeremy Noseda. First and foremost, it is the lifelong affinity she feels with the animals themselves.

“I've always been like that,” she says. “I get shockingly emotional. The day Take Me With You won at Windsor, Jamie [Spencer, jockey] said I'd turned green in the parade ring beforehand. At Ascot, I was in tears just when she went into the paddock. Bob Baffert has said he won't stand with me during races any more. I almost feel like crying just going round this evening, wishing them happy new year. Jeremy says I need to toughen up, can't get so attached to them. And people ask why I'm riding these young horses: do I want to go to the sales on crutches? But I just want to be part of it all. I must be the only bloodstock agent who rides out. I love knowing where you are with them, having that bond with them. In the end it's just because I care so much. And if I didn't, there'd be something really wrong.”

So however envious or duplicitous some people in the business have proved to be, they should remember first and foremost that they are dealing with a horsewoman. After all, from a bare dozen juveniles purchased to launch Phoenix in 2017, Radcliffe has already come up with a Grade I winner: Dream Tree (Uncle Mo) in the Starlet S. last month. Moreover Baffert, that filly's trainer, had sounded still more excited by brilliant debut winner Diamondsandpearls (Congrats) before she was sidelined by an injury arising in the G2 Sorrento S. at Del Mar last summer.

Diamondsandpearls has since migrated to Newmarket, to build back up to fitness away from the dirt, but will ultimately be restored to the U.S. In the meantime, Baffert saddles the first Phoenix runner of the year, Mourinho (Super Saver), in Group 2 company this Saturday; while the Triple Crown trail could also still beckon Gronkowski (Lonhro {Aus}), an impressive winner for Noseda in November. Other promising types at Shalfleet including the filly Radcliffe mentioned, Take Me With You (Scat Daddy), who won that day at Windsor by nine lengths–on ground she is said not to like. New trainers on the Phoenix roster meanwhile include Steve Asmussen, Todd Pletcher, Andre Fabre and Sir Michael Stoute, though Radcliffe is also promising to give a chance to others of lesser profile.

Of course, this kind of potential is no less than you would hope to see: Radcliffe bought the top lot at breeze-up sales on both sides of the Atlantic, and again at the Arqana August Yearling sale. Diamondsandpearls herself was a $1.7-million sale-topper (hip 360) at OBS in March. But the Turf has always been strewn with the expensive shards of dud diamonds. The authentic calibre of her first Phoenix investments would appear to identify a horsewoman rather more accomplished than might be willingly allowed by some who begrudge the wealth of her new patrons.

Indeed, the seismic impact of those patrons on the marketplace was so sudden, and initially so mysterious, that we learned rather more about some of those gaping on the sidelines than we did about the Phoenix venture itself.

But if Radcliffe has had to be wary of new friends, then she has all the more reason to cherish those going back to the years when nobody–least of all herself–could conceive what kind of little acorn had been sown when she was introduced, six years ago next month, to a Bahrain-born, Berkeley-educated businessman named Amer Abdul Aziz Salman at the Dubai Carnival.

To everyone else, Phoenix rose without trace: suddenly Radcliffe, discreetly bidding from an office at the Fasig-Tipton breeze-ups in Miami last March, was causing bewilderment and incredulity among underbidders accustomed to having the last say. At that sale, and then at OBS a couple of weeks later, she spent $4,475,000 on five horses. But to the agent herself, and to Abdul Aziz as Phoenix CEO, it was the consummation of what had already been a long road.

During the five years following their first meeting, Radliffe often wondered whether his scheme would ever get off the ground. But if the gestation of Phoenix sometimes tested the patience, it never exhausted her faith. Year after year, she worked the sales and presented a shortlist to Abdul Aziz, who had promised to assemble an unprecedented investment fund.

When the money suddenly arrived, just before the sale in Miami, he produced her lists again. It turned out that her efforts had not been wasted, after all. They contained names like Nyquist (Uncle Mo), or the Scat Daddy trio of Acapulco, Mendelssohn and Lady Aurelia. (Even as it was, she had been underbidder for the latter: she hadn't slept for three nights after seeing her, and persuaded Noseda to interest one of his main clients–but their reserves, maddeningly, were stretched just too far.)

“I'd sort of resigned myself to having done all this work, for so long, and that it might never happen,” Radcliffe says. “But something inside me kept saying what's the point of giving up? You never know what can happen in life, so loyalty and trust is a huge thing–and Amer's completely repaying me now. He's very smart. He'd kept every shortlist and said he didn't need anyone to tell me whether or not I was a good judge.”

Needless to say, in a game scarcely immune to jealousies or intrigue, one or two people have not hesitated to volunteer their credentials as superior. It was fascinating, then, recently to hear one seasoned and fearlessly independent judge raving about the quality of horses Radcliffe has been choosing.

Radcliffe spent her youth in showjumping and showing but was fortunate to be shown the ropes at Keeneland one year by James Delahooke, and so able to proceed to a role with Anthony Stroud–who hailed from 10 miles away, in Ulster, albeit Radcliffe teases him that they didn't appear to acquire their respective accents in the same locality. Unfortunately, a client who then encouraged Radcliffe to try her luck on her own account promptly went bust.

For a long time Radcliffe was “just tipping away” with the odd pinhook here, the odd order there. One early splash was with the smart sprinter Strike The Deal (Van Nistelrooy); for another client, she found the 2010 G2 Railway S winner Formosina (Ire) (Footstepsinthesand {GB}) for 105,000gns from Tattersalls Book 1; and more recently picked out a very smart filly for Noseda in Nemoralia (More Than Ready), purchased under tack for $170,000 at Ocala in March 2015 and subsequently Group 1-placed on both sides of the Atlantic.

Phoenix has, of course, wildly expanded her scope–but she only feels equal to the challenge thanks to those years of groundwork. “We've always looked at nice horses, just weren't able to buy them,” she shrugs. “Before, you just had to walk away. Air Force Blue (War Front) was one, I loved him. I've always looked at them, every sale. It might make me sound like a tyre-kicker but if you look at every horse you want to see, then you begin to get a picture what a specimen should look like. You don't ever learn by not looking at the best.”

That applies to horsemen as well as horses, and nowadays Radcliffe is able to profit from Baffert's insights at sales, as well, not least his quarter horseman's trick of running his hand along the stomach muscles. But now that she can more or less buy what she want, what is the Radcliffe paradigm?

“Depth,” she says. “A big girth, room for that heart. A good hindleg, that's the power comes from. And a good shoulder. Good feet, especially for training on the dirt. In America, they're not going to have the same European action behind. Over here, they've really got to walk; and buying mares, too, they have to walk. Black cats breed black kittens. And I like a nice, kind eye, as well.”

Radcliffe rounded off her giddy 2017 by spending $3 million for Nickname (Scat Daddy) at Fasig-Tipton November. It feels incredible that Phoenix is still only 10 months into its first cycle, which Radcliffe is about to complete with a maiden visit to the Magic Millions.

Then it will be back to Florida, where it all began. Radcliffe has strong views on the different preparation of breeze-up horses either side of the ocean. You often hear Europeans disparaging :10-second bullets in the US as the end of the road, not the beginning; but Radcliffe takes precisely the opposite view.

“In America they train every day the way we do our racehorses,” she explains. “Out for long period of time: walk, warm up, jog, take their hack round, cool down, get a bath, exactly the same as a proper training regime. Here you watch them train and see the light go from their eyes. And because I ride them, I know what they've been through: you can tell when their heads are fried. In fairness all the [breeze-up] horses I bought had great attitudes. But there are some [consignments] I wouldn't even look at.”

She makes a point of waiting until after the breeze before looking at the page, and even at yearling sales tries not to go overboard on pedigrees–at least in the US. “Here it is different, except maybe for sprinters,” she admits. “In Europe you need pedigree. But in Europe the best horses don't go through the sales ring. It's very hard to compete with Coolmore or Juddmonte homebreds. America gives you more of a chance. I must say I love everything about American racing, and I love the people. I've been very fortunate with the likes of Goncalo [Torrealba] from Three Chimneys getting involved [in Phoenix partnerships].”

Phoenix will obviously need time to develop its own breeding programme, though Radcliffe is excited by the 50% stake acquired in National Stud rookie Aclaim (Ire) (Acclamation {GB}); and Nickname, meanwhile, has been booked into Frankel (GB). Radcliffe remembers being bowled over the first time she saw Nickname, when giving Nemoralia in a paddock school before the GI Frizette S. (in which they finished first and second).

“She's a queen,” Radcliffe enthuses. “So imposing, and everything where it's supposed to be. Yes, she's yet another Scat Daddy, but she's just a stunning mare. And I don't think there's anything too wrong with buying Scat Daddys, to be honest. They do come in all shapes and sizes, but their attitudes are fantastic, they're very athletic and balanced. Maybe some of the fillies have a wee bit of a kink to them, there's a bit of hotness, but I think any good filly has a bit of a quirk.”

Phoenix committed over $20 million to 27 head of horse in its first seven months, but you get the sense Abdul Aziz and his investors have barely started. Even Radcliffe does not profess to know the detailed provenance of her backing–albeit the mention of one luxury corporate brand, with international resonance, gives a sense of its likely calibre. But if those treating elite bloodstock as an investment vehicle are entitled to their privacy, Radcliffe has duly had to absorb a lot of the industry's curiosity–and worse–on her own account. It has not always been easy, or pleasant.

That's why she loved her day at the Christmas jumps festival at Leopardstown. “Just the best craic ever, with Eddie O'Leary, Bobby O'Ryan, people like that.” She pauses, and adds with stress, “With old school people. Just fun. None of this bull. It has been very unsettling, I have to admit, some of the things people have said and done. But I remember who my friends were before. ”

“I've always been a bubbly sort of person, hugging everyone and smiling, and I'm not going to change,” she said. “Because you see [the] same people on [the] way up as you do on [the] way down. Friends have said that I need to enjoy this, and they're right. I need to stop worrying about what other people think–that's one of my New Year resolutions. Otherwise you won't even walk out of the house, you'll become a recluse.”

“At the end of the day I'm spending someone else's money, it's big money, and I want to get the best possible results I can. The Grade I winner really helped me. I know a lot of people are watching, waiting to see me fail–but I also know I've a lot of people giving me massive support. After that race, I'll be honest, I was in bed at 8 o'clock.”

But not before her phone had nearly melted with messages of congratulation–many evidently sent from Le Drakkar in Deauville, where friends and rivals alike had convened for the Arqana December sale. One of the old school, one she can trust to keep off the vultures, texted simply: “I am so proud of you.”

Radcliffe knows enough about the business to know that even the biggest budget brings no guarantees; and that she has set herself demanding standards already. Wisely, then, her well-wisher also counselled her enjoy the moment.

“And yes, it is unbelievably exciting,” Radcliffe said. “The money Amer has raised is amazing. He's a very smart guy, and has lots of contacts. And hey, the way it's happened so far, it could work. We are sellers. If we do hit it right once, that can keep the whole thing going.”

“It's such a privilege to be able to go to these sales and basically buy what I want. And when I fall in love with a horse, I don't sleep, it's all I can think about. My mind becomes consumed by it. But when you're spending that sort of money, that's the way it should be: you should care that much.”

“I do get myself in a state when they run, I can't speak, I'm literally shaking. So I'm going to have to take a pull if we ever get any of these horses to a Kentucky Derby. Because there are exciting times ahead. I know what we've got to spend. As the boss has said to me, 2018–both in the auction ring and, hopefully, on the racetrack–is going to be so much bigger than 2017.”